EMAIL BATTLE WITH AN ASSHOLE

Just about one month ago, EFB sent an email out to her address list regarding the treatment of women when they fought for the right to vote. Naturally, since this was factual and indisputable, at least one of her Republican siblings had to find a way to de-emphasize its important both historically and in relation to current times.
(I need to find a new name for EFB, BTW. Her exposure to new ways of thought have really reduced the need for such a name but not to the point where it can't be replaced with something less harsh)

One of EFB's employees who tends to be rather liberal in most situations shockingly wrote an email delcaring that focusing on the atrocities of the past can effect those who are not guilty of such actions today.

My response was simple and direct: "The past that is so often revered by conservtives is filled with shame and progress. We cannot only focus on the progress if we expect to avoid the shame. Here we have a female vice-presidential candidate (granted I think this particular person's candidacy is a pandering farce) and we appear to have come a long way, baby, yet I saw a beer ad the other day with the same female objectification B.S. and still there are men who hold onto the sad old ways of judging women as second class citizens. Strides can be halted very quickly if everyone ignores why they were necessary in the first place."

Somehow this caused in her brother a need to attack the fact that leftwing folk like to call themselves "progressives." The following is our email exchange and a second, shorter one that came about as a result.


Enjoy. Or don't. Whatever.

Bastards.

His emails are in red, mine are in blue. The irony is not lost on me:

who in the world came up with the label “Progressives” for Liberals? This is so misleading. Advocating social, economic, or political reform as in the dictionary is NOT what Liberals do. Why “hide” behind another label. Remember, you can put lipstick on a pig but it is still a pig!

name me a politcal term that's accurate. If conservative means holding onto what is already here and what occured in the past without considering the possibility of cultural evolution, then I guess it could be deemed as accurate if any Republicans actually practiced what they preached. The term "neo-conservative" is a contradiction in terms. Progressives is just another in a long line of misnomers used to cause rifts between people...

It just triggered a thought I have always had after hearing that term and thought it would be a good discussion topic. When I was out West and in the Liberal coffee shops, that term was used…well…Liberally and I thought it was rather self-righteous.
As far as referring to Palin as a “pandering farce” I believe she is 10 times more qualified to run than Hillary was. Hillary was riding on the coattails of slick Willie and has accomplished nothing!

I wish I could remember their names, but there are two very accomplished female Republican
senators that have been pointed out as far more qualified to be McCain's running mate, but as one observer put it, they wouldn't be able to corner the "redneck vote" to counter Obama's supposed lock on the non-white voters, not to mention Palin's gun-totin', bible thumpin' and polarizing personality. Not that Hillary wasn't polarizing, but she is a senator and has been legitemately elected, regardless of how you feel about her connection to her husband. Hillary is the career-oriented legal professional who is also a mom. Palin is more like the bored soccer mom who decided to re-join the workforce because it would be a fun distraction and act like she never left and nothing has changed while she was gone and it's still the Eighties.

As far as the smugness of the "liberal coffee shops" (You're gonna have to explain that one to me. Did they stage sit-ins and wear "Free Huey" shirts behind the counter, 'cause if so, I am going to need a name and an address and a video camera) I have no doubt in my mind they were smug as all hell. But that's no different than putting on the green where Chet and Biff discuss those whiney little workers demanding health insurance and maybe a paid day off between chemo therapy sessions like the woman who used to work under (efb)

These coffee shops had “photo shopped” pictures of Bush and every other Republican and nasty sayings under them, tee shirts with the same and so on. Very angry people were in there. I said to one of them (with a global warming tee shirt) that “if Global Warming was caused by man why do you drive 5 blocks from your house to a coffee shop” in what he says is enemy number one, the auto. After he stuttered for a while I asked him which smoke stack caused the last ice age…it was real fun!

I would think if you wanted more business at your coffee shop you might be tolerant of other peoples thoughts and/or feelings and either have both displayed or non at all. I didn’t give them my business.

That's pretty funny, actually, and rather childish. But apparently they didn't want non-liberals buying coffee there or hoped to provoke heated debate. Kind've reminds me of a Simpsons episode where a character's dad was fired from the cracker factory because of his divorce. His boss said to him, "I don't know if single people buy crackers and I don't much care. Frankly, it's a demographic we can live without." That coffee shop, as you Republicans are so fond of saying, has the right to market themselves to whatever group they want much like exclusive country clubs can deem certain applicants below the standards for membership based on important factors such as whether or not the applicants are wearing this week's Prada as opposed to last week's Gucci.

On a different note, nobody but the most uneducated thinks Global Warming is being caused by humans alone. It is a natural climatic change that is usually gradual but is being sped up by careless human indiustrial activities. Besides, driving 5 blocks ain't gonna impact the environment too much, especially if it's a newer car.

EXCHANGE #2

I find it fascinating that the U.S. is the only First World nation that eschews those labels (liberal, conservative, socialist) in the name of comfy-cozy centrism. In most countries, especially those in Europe , left-wing tends to mean socialist and right-wing tends to mean dictatorial fascism. A lot of right-wing pundits tend to favor these comparisons on their shows when they criticize "liberals" but strangely never mention the other side of that coin. I'm sure it's just an honest mistake...

That’s because Left wingers in this country are Socialists. It’s social program after social program. Right wingers are far from dictatorship lovers. I have always wondered why Democrats were never curious or embarrassed that all the Socialist powers favored them in office as opposed to Republicans.


Why would anyone be "embarrassed" about socialist support when it was considered a legitemate political ideology in this country until Joe McCarthy decided to make a name for himself? Are Republicans "embarrassed" when Fundamentalist Chris tians like Pat Robertson favor them? Many would say they should be considering the things that have come out of his mouth about anyone who doesn't fit his narrow view of Chris tianity.

I don't accept that social programs make one a socialist. Government does have a role in our lives. Don't send a letter or take a bus or a public road if you feel that strongly about it. In Canada , which conservatives love to label as a "COMMUNIST COUNTRY," individuals can purchase and maintain roads. It's all relative.

As far as Republicans not loving dictatorships, they sure love to support them all over the world. The current Bush has made several public statements about how he is the "decider guy" and no one else needs to have input. I'm not saying Democrats have been stellar, I'm not unrealistic, but it's plainly obvious that Republicans, who long ago abandoned their conservative principles in favor of corporations and nation-building, prefer a more rigid form of social control to advance their agenda.


Isn’t it past your bed time!!!

I’m in the middle of a report that needs to be done for my boss at 9:00am almost done but need to focus on the business! Talk to you later!

Yes! And your insistence on learning from the master is forcing me to neglect the book I am writing! Good morrow to you, sir!

(Bitch)